The Power of Music
by Rigeekulous
Summary: DISCONTINUED! Sequel to "The bond that keeps us toghether" This story will explain all the things that happened on TBTKUT. Full summary inside. You don't need to read my other fic to understand this, but I added a summary in the first chapter anyway.
1. A Melody For Revival

**Hehe. It has taken some time, but I finally managed to get this story started. I really hope you enjoy it because I'm putting all my effort into it.**

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**Edit: I will add a brief summary of The Bond That keeps Us Together for the sake of those who don't want (or don't have enough time or whatever) read my other story.**

**In "The Bond That Keeps Us Together, Mario and Luigi have an arguement regarding Luigi's mistakes at a Double Dash tournament, that results in Luigi (accidentally) destroying all of Mario's trophies and awards that rested on a small shelf above the chimney.  
Feeling guilty for what he did, Luigi leaves his home, not actually knowing where he was going and spending a restless night in his pick-up after which he resumes his wanderings, even though he hadn't slept very well. Of course, driving while sleepy isn't the best choice and thus, Luigi has a tragic accident in which he dies.  
All of this, although it doesn't seem like it, has something to do with a scheme Bowser was planning to, at last, conquer the kingdom, which is explained in this fic.****Since the story's summary was too long, I'm going to write it here:**

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I had this idea while hearing one of my favorite Phantom of the Opera songs. Bowser has a brand new plan to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, make the princess fall in love with him, and get rid at last of his biggest enemy, Mario, which will have a lot of trouble dealing with the King of All Koopas this time. He will have to deal with a power even bigger than that of the crystal stars, or that of the shine sprites. He will have to fight a power that he can not see, a power as old as universe. Mario, get prepared to fight:

**The Power of Music**

**Chapter I****: A melody for revival**

It was a cold October morning, there was a lonely figure standing in front of a gravestone, staring down to it with a sorrowful look on his face.

The figure stood there, just looking down at the gravestone for what looked like an eternity. Then, he kneeled and put a small flower bouquet on the floor next to the gravestone. After this, he slowly turned and started walking away reluctantly.

The fog instantly settled around the graveyard upon the man's departure, making it difficult to see what was happening, but you didn't need to see it. You could perfectly hear it. You could hear the heavy steps of a big someone followed by a group of smaller persons. Then you could also hear, barely, a muffled but potent voice giving orders.

"Are you sure about of this?" The voice asked.

You then could hear the muffled answer of the smaller fellows, then more steps and some clinging of metal against metal; and then, silence.

After a few seconds of silence, a small noise seemed to break through the fog. It was the unmistakable noise of a couple of drumsticks, marking the tempo for a song.

After the drumsticks came the chord. A huge and distorted D minor chord echoed through the night, slowly bending to a D high, then to an E, becoming louder and louder each second. After five seconds, the chord was so loud and distorted that it seemed as though as it made the fog move along with the sound waves.

But, the fog was indeed moving. It started to swirl around a particular spot as the chord started now to fade away, only to be followed by an aggressive and fast melody, played by a heavily distorted electric guitar.

The fog was now starting to concentrate in a giant, white twister on top of a particular gravestone, making it possible to see the rest of the graveyard. The twister was spinning along with the beat of the aggressive melody played by the electric guitar.

In front of the huge twister there was a small group of koopas standing there, one of them was playing an electric guitar, standing behind him there were another two koopas, one was holding an electric bass and the other had a couple of drumsticks in his hands. Next to them another koopa was standing, this one though, was a lot bigger and had spikes on his shell. He had a lock of fire-red hair growing on his head and a menacing and eager look on his face.

The twister was spinning very fast now, gathering some garbage and dust from the surroundings.

The melody was reaching its climax now, getting louder and faster, louder and faster, until the notes were barely recognizable, fusing into a blur of ear-splitting metallic sounds; and when the music was in the verge of total ecstasy, the huge sound of the electric guitar was shadowed by a louder sound, a ghastly roar that seemed to come from the very earth beneath the koopas' feet.

This didn't make the koopa with the guitar stop playing, though. He continued tearing on the strings of the guitar, threatening to make them snap.

The roar then started to chorus the melody that was being played by the guitar, only in a lower tone, and both melodies continued getting louder and louder, until, out of nowhere, they stopped, the echo of the last note remaining on the air for a few minutes before fading away. The fog that had been swirling above the gravestone dissipated, leaving the graveyard clear and sunny.

"It's done; he will be awake for tomorrow." Spoke one the koopa with the electric guitar.

"Very well, are you sure that this will work?" said the huge spike-shelled koopa.

"Trust us, the books never lie." Answered the koopa with the drumsticks.

"Well, I hope so."

With this, the four koopas turned away from the gravestone and left, leaving the magic of the music work by itself.

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**Well, here you have it. Next chapter will be up mmm I don't know when, but I hope it won't take too much. See ya!**


	2. Flashbacks

**Hehe. New chapter!!!!! This was very difficult to write, and might be a little boring. But it's crucial for the story. Let me know if it sucks please.****Flashbacks**

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Chapter two:

"Well, what's next?" Bowser asked eagerly to the koopa standing in front of him. It was obviously smaller then him, but still looked at Bowser with fearless eyes. His skin was a pale blue color and his shell was a darker blue. They were sitting at a small "conferences room" inside Bowser's castle. The room had a metal, six-person table in the center with only four metal chairs that glittered evilly under the pale light of a small roof lamp.

"You want him to be able to do magic right?" The koopa asked, shifting uncomfortably on his seat.

"Uhuh." Bowser nodded excitedly.

"Very well then, but we must wait 'till he wakes up." The koopa said, crossing his legs and doing a bored gesture with his hands.

Bowser was getting sick of waiting. "And how are we supposed to know if he wakes up, huh?" he asked. "He is lying in a graveyard ten miles away from here!"

Bowser punched the table, exasperated. This didn't bother the koopa who just stared expressionless at him.

"You will know. Trust me." He said and closed his eyes, resting the back of his head on his hands.

Bowser understood that there was nothing else to do, so he stood up and left. He wanted to get something to do, to get distracted while the time passed. But the caste was awesomely silent that day. With Mario out of fight, crying his dead brother the whole Mushroom Kingdom was like suspended on a cloud.

That day was the longest and most boring day for Bowser, who kept pacing around his castle impatiently, waiting for the hour in which he would be able to get his most ambitious plan get going. It had all started with a magazine article.

That day, Bowser was sitting alone in his "Planning room", with the trash bin brimming out with paper balls, scribbling draft-plans on a notebook. One could think that he lived for making up extremely complicated plans and trying to destroy Mario and his brother so he could at least rule over the mushroom kingdom only for the sake of doing it. But no, he had deeper reasons that I will not tell yet.

…Okay, I will tell you why Bowser keeps causing trouble around in the Mushroom Kingdom for apparently no reason.

It all started one day, a long time ago. Bowser has not always been the huge, spike-shelled koopa he is now. He once was a normal and rather skinny koopa that did no harm to anyone.

Bowser had a brother and a sister, both older than him. He also, and somewhat obviously, had a father and a mother which sent hi to school at the age he was supposed to enter to school.

He lived a rather normal life and actually graduated from university with a degree in physics, and then was when things changed a lot for him.

The last year before Bowser obtained his degree in physics, a pair of brothers about Bowser's same age arrived into town from New York. They were studying an engineering career and moved from their former university to the Mushroom Republic National University because of motives unknown to Bowser.

The older brother, Mario, was not very good for school. Actually he wouldn't have passed and obtained his diploma without his skills with any kind of sport. Luigi, the younger brother was a lot smarter, maybe even a nerd. He was not so good with sports like his older brother, but he did have his moments.

You might be wondering what does this have to do with Bowser. Well, it's just a very simple yet terrible series of unfortunate events:

Before the arrival of the two brothers Bowser had a girlfriend, also, as you might have noted before, the Mushroom Kingdom was a Republic with a president and other republic-related stuff. That was until a person decided to make something about it. Any clue of who that person might be? No? Well he was none else than Bowser senior. Yes, Bowser's dad organized a rebellion against the republic, wanting to establish a dictatorship. He had clandestinely formed an army out of renegade koopas, goombas and other population of the Mushroom Republic.

Bowser, unlike his brother and sister, was against this movement, but he didn't dare to contradict his father, who managed to take over the Republic, turning the presidential residence into a fortress, killing the president and all of the senators and other powerful people, all of this over the course of three years.

In the meantime, Bowser and his girlfriend, Peach Toadstool, kept seeing each other secretly, because Peach's father was conspiring to overthrow the Koopa's dictatorship and reestablish the republic. This was until Bowser discovered Peach cheating on him with no other than Mario.

This enraged Bowser who took Peach to his father, also telling him about the plot that the Toadstools were making against him.

Mario, who had joined the Toadstools in their fight, found out that his lover had been taken prisoner by Bowser and urged the rebellion to strike right away, but they acted too late and the koopa army captured everybody except Mario and Luigi, killing Peach's father, mother and sister.

Bowser, seeing that he had terribly hurt the one he loved, helped the Mario brothers in their near-suicidal attempt to attack Bowser senior, which, against all possibilities, succeeded, culminating the Koopa's dictatorship and rendering Bowser a traitor to his race and family. Bowser thought that he had redeemed himself with his actions and expected Peach to return to his side once again, but she still blamed Bowser for the death of all her family and went with Mario instead.

Bowser's older sister and brother went into exile, but not before promising to return and have their revenge to their brother, who had betrayed them. Bowser, seeing his life crumbling before his eyes, also promised to have his revenge on the newly established Kingdom and most of all on the person that betrayed his love and on the person that ungratefully had also betrayed his friendship.

And that's the reason of Bowser always sitting there inside his planning room, developing more complicated schemes each time.

And that's the reason why he was sitting there that day in which the greatest idea of his whole life came into his mind.

Bowser left his planning room, tired of coming out with plans that would not work. "Face it" he said to himself. "They beat you, you are a looser."

He sat at a small balcony where he used to relax and think about things. He picked up a newspaper sheet that had been there for at least a week and started reading, although he wasn't paying attention to it.

After a few minutes of staring blindly at the newspaper, Bowser closed his eyes and relaxed his mind. Was it really worth it? He wondered. Was it really worth all the beatings and humiliations for a revenge that just might be pointless? He did not know. Everything was so confusing.

"Hey take a look at this Kammy."

Bowser heard the voice of an unknown magikoopa on the background Then he heard the familiar voice of his closest friend, Kammy, the magikoopa.

"What is it Fer?"

"Check out this article about the 'new magic'" Fer said with a mocking voice.

"New magic?"

"Yeah, it talks about a group of koopas that supposedly practice the _musicomancy_"

"Musicomancy? What kind of rubbish is that?"

"They say they can make magic out of music."

"Wow. That sounds interesting."

"Yeah, they say they can make someone fall in love with other someone, invoke rain, make a person sleep forever, man, they even say they can revive the dead!"

And then it hit him, like a bucket of freezing cold water, it hit him. A new scheme was slowly forming in his mind. If the Musicomancy thing was true, his plan would not only succeed, but it would succeed so swiftly and secretly it would turn bowser invincible!

He jumped out of the chair, flinging it out of the balcony with the force of his spring. He ran inside the castle to the place where the magikoopas were speaking.

"Let me see that magazine." He ordered to Fer who handed the magazine to him.

Bowser read the article; eagerness growing inside him as his plan slowly became more and more solid with each line.

At the end of the article there was a phone number, which Bowser hurried to dial.

Tuuuut…

Tuuuut…

Tuuuut…

"_Hello, the Music Guru here." _Spoke a voice through the phone.

"Um… Yeah, well I want your services." Bowser blurted out, not knowing what to say.

"_What kind of service do you want?" _The voice asked with a bored tone.

"Well, it's kind of difficult; I need to tell it to you in person."

"_Uhuh."_

"… Well, where can I meet you?" Bowser asked.

"_Savior's street, numb__er 72. We are in a small building there. It has a big, purple advertisement. Can't miss it." _The voice said with that same bored tone.

"Okay, I will be there soon."

"_Whatever." _They hung up.

Bowser rushed out of his castle and walked to the address he had been told, which luckily wasn't so far from his castle and was in the outskirts of the city. He knocked on the old-styled wooden door of the building and waited.

After a few seconds, the door opened. A koopa was standing there, he had a yellow shell and a fierce look on his eyes, which vanished at the sight of Bowser.

"K-King B-Bowser…" The koopa stammered and fell to his knees in a kiss-the-floor-at-your-feet fashion.

Bowser rolled his eyes. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you, okay?"

The koopa rose his head a little to look at Bowser. "Then, w-what is your ugliness doing h-here?"

"I have already told you. I want your services." Bowser said as if he was speaking to a very young child.

The koopa sprang up with such a speed that Bowser took a step back. The next time he saw him he was standing there with a dumb smile on his face.

"Come this way please" The koopa said, motioning Bowser to enter.

Bowser followed the koopa a little bit reluctantly inside the small building. It was a small room with a wooden counter on the left side with posters of diverse musical instruments hung on it. The floor was also wooden and the walls had a bright yellow wallpaper with bright red musical-note prints that hurt the eye. There were also tons of posters hung up on the wall, maybe to tone down a little bit the terribly bright wallpaper. On the right side of the room there were a couple of bookshelves packed with old-looking books and papyruses.

The yellow koopa ran to a small door on the opposite wall from the entrance above of which was a small shelf also threatening to fall apart with the weight of the books that were resting on it.

"Wait a little bit, your ugliness, I will call Shade." The koopa said before disappearing through the door.

Bowser just stood there, waiting. In the meanwhile, he admired the walls full of posters and the shelves full of books. He came closer to one of the bookshelves and picked a random book. It was rather new compared to the rest of the books that occupied the shelves. For instance, the covers had still a hint of the green color they once had, and the title was written in English, unlike the rest in which the title was written in Latin, Greek, Roman and even Chinese. The title read _Music Necromancy _with golden, very stylized letters.

Bowser opened the book in a random page and looked at the handwriting. It was hand-made and so stylized that it even made it difficult to read what was written on it. It only had the name of the song and its respective pentagram.

Being unable to understand what it said, Bowser put the book back on its place at the same time the backdoor of the room opened and out of it came the yellow koopa with another koopa. This one, though, had a grayish-blue skin and a bright blue shell. He too had that fearless, intimidating look on his face. But this time, the look remained even at the sight of Bowser.

"So, what is thy bidding Your Majesty?" The shady koopa asked, mocking a bow with a sly smile on his face.

"I want you to help me to take over the kingdom." Bowser said, sounding kind of stupid.

The shady koopa burst out into laughter, putting his arms around his belly trying to hold back the laughter.

"And...jaja…ho…jaja…how are we su-supposed to…jaja… do that." The koopa said between laughter.

Bowser smiled evilly, making the koopa suddenly grow serious.

"Trust me. It will be easier than it sounds if you are as good as you say."

The two koopas glanced at each other and smiled.

"What do you want us to do?" said the yellow koopa.

"No, before that" said the shady koopa. "What do we get from helping you?" he asked, also smiling evilly.

"You will get anything you ask for if you help me with this." Bowser said

"Anything?" The yellow koopa asked.

"Anything regarding money, lands, and other material possessions." Bowser said, noting he almost screwed up.

The two koopas then turned their back to Bowser and starting speaking among them with whispers.

After a few minutes, they again turned to see Bowser and the shady koopa said:

"Well, even if we accept to help you with this plan of yours, how do we know it will succeed?"

Bowser's smile grew even bigger. "Once you hear it, you will know that it will succeed."

"Very well, let's hear it then." The yellow koopa said.

Bowser told them about his plan. The koopas' evil smile grew bigger with each word, until Bowser finished. Then they shook hands and started refining some aspects of the plan. This, they thought, is the end of the Mushroom Kingdom, and the start of the Koopa Nation!

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**So, how has it? I hope you liked it. The next one will be coming... soon. I hope. It's just I have been very busy lately and I have had no time to write. Please R&R!!!**


	3. A Melody for Power

**Haha! The next chapter is ready at last! It is the longest chapter I have ever written, and actually the hardest too. Enjoy!**

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Chapter three: A melody for power

That night was also restless for Bowser. The first part of his plan was almost complete, and he hoped the rest would be faster and easier.

He shifted uncomfortably on his bed from one position to another, slowly waiting for the sun to rise so he could at last start with his plan.

After lying on his bed restlessly for a couple of hours, Bowser sat at his bed and looked at the red numbers of his digital clock.

10:34, the clock read. Bowser groaned exasperatedly and stood up. He decided to take a walk around his castle. Just to clear his mind.

He walked out of his bedroom onto a dimly lit hallway and started following it, not actually noting where he was going, just walking and walking without a hint of sleepiness on his being.

He soon walked out of the hallway into a living room, lit with a rather small chandelier hanging from the ceiling. He looked around. All of the doors were closed and he was not in the mood for opening doors, so he sat on a red sofa in front of an unlit chimney.

He stared at the chimney's blackened mouth, full of black ashes and remains of a few logs that weren't burned. Again the beginnings of his plan came into his mind. How had he slowly and swiftly got into the Mario brothers' home and minds with the help of the Music Guru, how had he tore apart the family that had interfered with him his whole life, and how a biography book had gave him an idea even bigger than the first one.

Without noticing, Bowser's eyelids became heavier and heavier each time, as he started getting asleep with the sweet thought that he would soon accomplish his life's most desired dream, and maybe even regain his family's trust and his race's respect.

When Bowser woke up next day he noticed that the dawn had already broke because light was getting into the living room through the small windows that were close to the ceiling.

He stood up with a spring, getting dizzy instantly because of the sudden change of position. After recovering balance, he ran as fast as he could to the meeting room in which he spoke to Shade the previous day, not taking into consideration that he might not be there now.

Bowser burst open the door of the meeting room and was surprised to find Shade sitting there, in the same position in which he had left him the previous day, sleeping. Shade didn't even move when he heard him enter, he just opened his eyes slightly and gave Bowser a lazy look before closing them again.

"Today's the day! He must be awake by now!" Bowser said, excitedly.

Shade looked at his watch with that unworried and lazy look on his eyes and yawned.

"Yeah, he must be awake by now." He said and stood up slowly, stretching his arms and legs.

Bowser looked at him expectantly and a bit exasperatedly.

"Hey, hurry up! I want to get started today!" Bowser said.

Shade looked at him with fearless eyes and smiled.

"Don't worry, he should be here soon." He said, making his way out of the room.

"What do you mean with that?" Bowser asked, confused.

"I mean" Shade answered, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "That the magic always returns to its origins." With that Shade exited the room with Bowser following him closely.

Shade started heading to a particular place, which Bowser didn't actually know where.

"Where are you going?" Bowser asked, catching up with Shade.

"Upstairs." Was Shade's answer.

In fact, he was heading to the huge stone staircase that went up to the battlements and the lookout towers. Bowser followed him, not sure of what he was planning.

They went all the way up to the highest lookout tower, which looked to the path that made its way up to the hill where the castle stood. Once there, Shade got closer to the edge and looked into the horizon.

"Hmm… Oh yeah, here he comes." He said, pointing towards a spot on the road.

Bowser came closer to the edge too and looked to the spot where Shade was pointing. Upon not seeing anything, he closed his eyes a bit to see better.

"Where? I don't see anything?" Bowser said, shielding his eyes with his hand from the morning sun.

"Ugh. He's right THERE!" Shade said, pointing to the dirt road again.

Bowser tried a little more to see where he was pointing to, but noticing he couldn't, he grabbed a small copper telescope lying there and put it to his eye.

This time, he did see his plan walking towards the castle, with a hypnotized but fast pace and what looked like a blind stare on his eyes.

Bowser could feel excitement growing inside of him as he looked at the tall and thin figure walking towards his castle, ready to obey any of his orders.

"He's coming! He's really coming!!" Bowser said with a rather childish voice.

Shade rolled his eyes and stared at the man walking towards them with a thoughtful look on his eyes.

Bowser was literally hopping with excitement and singing in a very Jack Sparrow fashion "He's coming! He's coming!" when he came to a realization that made him freeze on his spot.

"Wait, maybe someone spotted him walking towards here!" Bowser said, alarmed.

"Nah," Shade answered "nobody could have seen him."

"How can you be so sure huh?" Bowser asked, concerned. "That guy's supposed to be dead! And he suddenly rises from his grave and starts walking towards here!"

"Nobody could have noticed because we casted a very complicate spell yesterday that would make him go unnoticed even in a totally crowded street, apart from reviving him. Even if someone did see him, that someone would not remember doing so." Shade said, comforting Bowser a little.

"Ah, very well then. Are you sure?" Bowser said, still a bit concerned.

"Trust me, we are professionals." Shade answered.

After that, they just stood there, waiting for their guest to arrive, which actually took a lot less than they expected.

Bowser ordered to lower the bridge and open the gates for his castle as soon as their guest passed the "Welcome to the Darklands" sign so he would not fall to the lava pit that surrounded the castle in his trance.

The figure walked unhesitant into the castle and started to make his way to the place where Bowser and Shade, who had already got down from the lookout tower, were waiting for him.

As soon as he arrived, Shade looked at him with curiosity, as if he had not been what he expected to be.

"This is the guy that will conquer the world for us?" He asked, contemptuously.

"Yeah, why?" Bowser asked.

"Well, he looks kinda weak and dumb." Shade said, not hiding his disapproval.

"Hah! He might look weak, but he's a very strong character indeed." Bowser said, proudly.

"Fine, if you say so…" Shade said, again not hiding his disapproval.

Silence then invaded the room until Bowser spoke again.

"Well, he's here, what's next?" He asked, eagerly.

Shade looked again at the person that he helped to revive with a very disappointed look. Then he looked at Bowser with weird eyes and sighed, resigned.

"First of all," he said "we must snap him out of the trance."

Bowser stared in disbelief for a moment.

"What!?!?" He asked, almost shouting.

Shade sighed and then took a deep breath, as if to calm himself.

"Look," he said "magic is very closely related to feelings. If you want this… guy to be able to do magic he must also be able to act and feel by himself. Understood?"

"Hmm, it was not as I planed, but I think I might have a solution for that too." Bowser said thoughtfully.

Then, he left the room and mouthed some instructions to a pair of koopas that were standing outside.

He walked all the way down to the castle's dungeons and then all the way down to what was below the dungeons, a place that only very few people knew that existed; and of those very few people only two knew what was inside that very anodyne metal door at the end of the most unnoticeable alley of all.

Bowser knocked a couple of times on the door and waited.

"Who is it?" answered a gray voice behind the door.

"It's me, Bowser." He said.

There was a brief moment of silence and then the door opened. Below the threshold was a small, gray-robed magikoopa. Graze, was his name. He was one of Bowser's most well-kept secrets, he was like Bowser's secret agent or something the like.

"I have a new mission for you." Bowser said in a secret-agency-boss fashion.

"Your wishes are my orders, Your Ugliness." Graze answered, bowing.

Bowser explained Graze what he had to do, and then both left, Graze disappeared into a blur of grayish-white smoke and Bowser left in a less-cooler way: he just went upstairs.

Luigi slowly opened his eyes… Wait!!!!! Wasn't he supposed to be dead? Ha, ha, ha!! Anyway… let's just go on with the story, shall we?

Luigi slowly opened his eyes, and he only saw darkness. He was lying on a table or some hard surface. But that was strange anyway, because when you are dead you aren't supposed to see or feel anything at all.

But, he was dead right? He didn't actually know. He might just have been sleeping for a long time.

Then he noticed that his head hurt a lot. It felt as if a huge drum was pounding inside his head, so he tried to move his hand to hold his head. But he couldn't move. He looked around, confused and scared, but he couldn't see anything more than darkness.

He tried to move again, but found that his arms and legs were tied, and that his efforts to free himself were completely futile, so he just relaxed and tried to remember. He tried to remember what had happened to him, but the lat thing he remembered was the day he had argued with Mario and accidentally broke all of his trophies.

Luigi sighed at the sight of that scene, and closed his eyes with shame. That was a part of his life that he wouldn't like to repeat. Well, a part of his life that never, under any circumstances, he would repeat.

After removing those sad memories from his mind, Luigi tried to remember again. But he found it was useless. Once he reached the end of the terrible trophy incident, the rest didn't exist, not even a blur or piece of something, just nothing at all, not black nor white. Nothing.

In that moment, a sudden blast of sound crashed into Luigi's ears, deafening him for a second, and sudden blast of light blinded him too.

Then a series of ear-splitting clacks banged his head like a huge bass-drum. Luigi shut his eyes even tighter and tried to put his hands on his ears to stop the sound from entering them, but his hands were tied, and even if they weren't, the sound seemed to come from everywhere and he could feel it rather than hear it.

Luigi gritted his teeth and tensed every muscle in his body to try to stop the pain, until suddenly, the sound stopped to be followed by a complete silence.

The silence lasted until another series of ear-splitting squeaks and screeches broke into Luigi's mind, making him grunt and twist his being with the pain.

After a while, the screeches stopped and gave way to the silence again. By now, Luigi was sweating a lot and panting heavily, still keeping his eyes shut tightly. His head hurt like hell and there was that annoying beep in his ears that seems to come when you hear a very loud sound and then jump to complete silence.

Luigi finally dared to open his eyes to see where the sounds were coming from, but was forced to close them almost instantly because of a huge blast of light that hurried it's way into his eyes as soon as he opened them.

Another screech was heard, but this time it was a lot less deafening and Luigi could have sworn he could make out some words, then some bangs and then another screech, a little louder this time.

"Wshoshshsh wshwhawsh wshshoshspshsn yshshoshsr shshsyshsss nshshsoshshs"

Luigi heard those screeches again, but this time he was sure that they were saying something, but he could not make out what.

"Opwshsssh wsshhhur eshshhss"

The screeches were getting more understandable each time, but they were still very blurred and distorted.

"Open yshourshsh eyeshshshsh"

Luigi opened his eyes only a bit, fearing the blinding blast of light, but this time the light wasn't so powerful. Actually it was rather dim, but Luigi's eyes, still used to the complete darkness of death resented it a bit.

Out of the fuzziness of the image that he was seeing, he could make out where the light was coming from. A small lamp hung on the ceiling provided the room with a kind of grayish light.

Luigi blinked to clear his vision and finally dared to open his eyes completely. He was in a very small stone room, with nothing else than a very old wood desk threatening to collapse under the weight of hundreds of sheets of paper and the rot that corroded its once very strong legs.

Standing in front of him were two koopas. One very big and fearsome, and the other was normal sized, but his eyes were so fierce that he even looked more terrifying than the big one.

"…" Luigi tried to say something, but his throat was bone-dry.

He cleared his throat and tried again.

"Bowser… what is this?" he said, fighting a little with his voice.

Bowser smiled evilly. The other guy did nothing but stare at Luigi with a fearsome look in his dark-green eyes.

"Well, my dear friend, you are here to make an agreement with us." Bowser said, apparently having fun.

"What? I won't do any agreement with you!" Luigi shot back, hurting his throat with the effort.

"Ha ha! Well, for me it seems that you don't have any choice." Bowser said happily.

"Why? I'm dead anyway…" Luigi said, sounding rather depressed.

"You mean you WERE dead." Bowser answered, pointing out with his finger the word "were".

Luigi didn't answer to this. He just stared at Bowser, confused.

"Anyway, you might not care for your life anymore, but what about hers?" Bowser said.

He pointed to the pile of papers on the desk, with a meant-to-look-evil expression on his face.

Luigi looked at the papers for a moment, very confused now.

"Who?" he asked, puzzled.

Bowser turned his face to the desk and noted the papers. His face turned red (if that's possible) with shame and he swiftly blew the papers away with a sweep of his massive hand, revealing a small flat screen below all the mess.

"Ehem… as I was saying… what about hers?" Bowser said, trying to regain some of his honor.

As soon as he pointed to it, the screen came to life, flashing in different colors before settling into a single image. It showed what looked like a big crystal bubble, inside of which the silhouette of a person could be seen, distorted by the thick, round glass. The only thing that was clearly distinguishable was the very bright shade of orange of the clothes the person was wearing.

It took Luigi a little while to understand it. But finally it hit him hard.

"No…" He said, instantly and instinctively trying to free himself of the very thick leather straps that held him.

"Let her go!" He shouted, struggling with the bonds.

Bowser smiled, seeing that his plan was starting to work.

"Oh, so you do care…" he said.

"Let her go, she has nothing to do with this!" Luigi said, still struggling vainly with the bonds.

"Maybe," Bowser said, evilly "but she has nothing better to do."

Luigi stopped struggling and stared at Bowser, awestruck.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Bowser laughed with a soft, evil laughter.

"Didn't you know? Her kingdom was conquered and her family's dynasty was overthrown." He said.

"What!? You are lying!" Luigi shouted, and tried to break free again.

Bowser shrugged. "You might believe me or not. That's unimportant. The important thing is that her life is in your hands." He said.

Luigi was taken aback now. He didn't understand what was Bowser up to. But he could not let him hurt his beloved one.

"It's your decision." Bowser went on. "I just have to press a button, and the glass bubble in which she's being kept will slowly start flooding with water."

Luigi was thinking very fast by now. What should he do? Join Bowser in his plan that would surely change the world he knew, and not for good, or let his beloved one die in front of his eyes.

"I agree. Just promise me you won't hurt her." Luigi said, closing his eyes, ashamed.

"Hahaha! I knew you would agree! And don't worry for her, she's safer here now than in her kingdom, where she has been rendered a traitor."

"Is that true?" Luigi asked.

"Oh yeah, it's true. Her kingdom was attacked a little while ago." Bowser said.

"By whom?" Luigi asked, puzzled. Who would want to attack Sarasaland?

"Hmm, do you really want to know?" asked Shade, who had not spoke until now.

Luigi stared at him, wondering what did he meant with that.

"Yes, I want to know." He said, not really knowing if he wanted to.

"Fine, if you say so." Shade said. "Tell him Bowser"

"The Mushroom kingdom and its new king and queen did so." Bowser said, evilly.

"New king and queen?" Luigi was really confused now.

"Didn't you know? Peach married last week… Although I suppose that being dead, you couldn't have found out…" Bowser said.

"What?!" Luigi was even more surprised now.

"Yeah… The wedding was very big; Mario looked very good in his black tux…" Bowser said.

"Mario and Peach married?" Luigi couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Hahaha! Yeah! They did so at last!" Bowser laughed.

"And they attacked Sarasaland?" That couldn't be true.

"Attacked, and conquered, rather easily actually…" Shade said, also enjoying watching Luigi suffer.

"No…No! That is not true!" Luigi started struggling with the bonds again, hurting himself.

"But… You agreed to help us with our plan… That deserves a reward." Bowser said.

"What do you mean?" Luigi asked. The things just kept getting weirder.

"Well… I can let you and Daisy govern your lands again…" Bowser said.

By this time, without Luigi noticing (and me neither actually…) Shade started playing a melody with an electric guitar he took seemingly out of nowhere. He played a beautiful, slow arpeggio, humming softly another melody.

"Really…?" Luigi asked, getting suddenly drowsy and dizzy.

"Yeah, just imagine it, you and your girl, king and queen of Sarasaland. Wouldn't that be nice?" Bowser said, or actually whispered, very softly.

"Yeah… nice…" Luigi said, enraptured by the sweet melody played by Shade.

Then, suddenly, the melody started getting louder, the intoxicating arpeggio filling the room with its warm notes.

Luigi felt dizzier each time. It seemed as though as if his heartbeat followed the rhythm of the song, filling his veins with the mesmerizing beat of the song. Making him part of the melody.

Shade started humming the melody a little louder, also making the volume of the guitar higher too. Even Bowser was feeling dizzy now, but not as dizzy as Luigi who was now moving his body along with the song, completely hypnotized by the sweet weeps of the guitar, which started playing a sadder arpeggio now.

This went on, for a relatively long time. The song was never the same as before, just very similar, but never the same. Each phrase told a story, each note spoke to the world words of magic and wisdom. Each note spoke words of power.

And thus, that was the way Bowser's most evil and complicate plan started: with the sweetest melody of all. The melody of power.

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**Haha! I hope you liked it. The next one will maybe take more time since I'm feeling the writer's block come! So, I'm sorry if I make you wait...**


	4. Remorse

**Sorry for making you wait so much, but I had a huge writer's block and I could'nt get this chapter finished. Hope you enjoy it!**

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****Chapter Four: Remorse**

There was a big turmoil at the Mushroom Kingdom castle. There were toads running from a place to another, taking messages from a person to another, spreading the news. Asking whys and hows followed by gasps of astonishment, more whys and hows or simply silence.

The turmoil was also starting to spread to the city, where someone whispered the news to another someone, who went and told the rumor to another three someones, who then went and told the gossip to a small crowd each one, and etcetera, etcetera. After a couple of hours, the rumor of war started to cause panic in the city.

The people locked themselves in their houses, bolted doors and windows, hugged their children, begged for their lives. But after a few minutes of tense silence, nothing seemed to happen. The people started to relax, but still kept themselves locked in the safety of their homes.

Back at the castle, the Queen was having a hard time handling the news that came back from the battlefield. The former Princess of Sarasaland was nowhere to be found, but the inhabitants of the conquered land didn't resist to the attack, in spite of being mercilessly annihilated and massacred.

"Princess… I mean Queen… I mean… Oh… Ermm. Miss Toadstool!" ringed a very familiar voice from among the crowd.

"This is madness!! I knew we shouldn't have hired the koopas for the army." The voice said with a desperate tone.

Peach looked down from the paper she was reading to an old toad with brown dots on his head. He had a big, grey moustache under his inexistent nose and a pair of golden eyeglasses being held by apparently nothing. In his right hand he held a mushroom-shaped cane which he waved up and down desperately.

"Toadsworth, please, calm down. There's nothing to worry about." Peach said in a soothing tone.

"But WHY?! WHY?! Please tell me. WHYYYYY?!!!!" Toadsworth clung to Peach's dress with a sorrowful and desperate look in his eyes, begging for an answer.

Peach just looked at her old friend and mentor with unexpressive eyes and grinned.

"You will understand later." She said, like if she was speaking to a little child who asked about "adult themes". Then she turned to walk away.

Toadsworth let go of Peach's dress and just stared at her while she walked towards a group of arguing toads.

"Yeah… I'm afraid so." He said with a sigh. He then picked up his cane, which had fell to the floor, and walked away of the arguing group, crestfallen.

Meanwhile, in another room of the castle, far away from the chaos and desperation of the main hall, sat a man. He was sitting at a red couch, which looked to a large window from which you could get a very nice view of the whole kingdom.

The man wore a black tuxedo with a white shirt and a red tie. He looked depressed. He just was sitting there, gazing through the window with teary eyes. He didn't understand why the destiny was playing with him like this. First, his brother died. He still felt guilty for that now. But in spite of that, he still accepted Peach's proposal. He thought that it would help him overcome his brother's death, and certainly it did, but it didn't last long.

The man sighed. He suddenly felt dirty. He looked at his hands, which weren't covered by those white gloves anymore. Why had he agreed? Why had he let Peach do those things?

He closed his fists tightly, also closing his eyes, and looked away of the window. He could not bear looking at that town. That town in which he had lived for now a very long time. The town that had always trusted him to do the right things. And he had failed them.

"Master Mario, I'm glad to find you!" A voice took him out of his thoughts abruptly.

Mario rose from the couch and turned to see the person that was just entering the small room.

"Oh, Master Mario, this is horrible!" The small, old toad said crestfallen and depressed.

"What is it, Toadsworth?" Mario asked, kneeling so he could speak to him face to face.

"Oh. It's just that I can't stand this kind of things anymore." The elder toad said, walking towards the window in front of the couch.

"Yeah. Me neither." Mario said, joining him.

Then they just stood there, in silence, admiring the view. Neither of them was able to speak anymore, both feeling completely remorseful and guilty, but they also felt uncertain. They didn't understand what had happened to the Kingdom. It seemed that since Luigi died, everything just worsened.

After a few minutes of deep thought, Toadsworth sighed and walked away from the window, muttering something about work to do. Mario simply nodded, and continued gazing through the horizon in wonder. He was trying to find an answer in those clean, blue skies, in those fluffy clouds, in those green plains. But the thing just kept slipping away. After a few moments, he shook his head and turned to leave. He decided he would speak to his wife and make her understand that what she was doing was wrong, and then Mario began to wonder yet again what had happened to that pure heart. Why was that kind and beautiful woman doing these horrible things? These thoughts occupied his mind as he strolled down to the Main hall, decided to make Peach reason.

Never, he nor Toadsworth, happened to look at the dark, stormy cloud that loomed above the Darklands. Maybe if they had, they would have guessed the answer.

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**I know it was pretty short (the last one had almost 4000 words and this not even reaches 1000) but I am approaching a very important part of the story, and I wan to do it fast.**

**Anyway, see you in next chapter, and may the Force be with those who review.**


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